Look what's coming to a neighbor near you:

The maker of the Taser stun gun used by police and the military is planning to market a civilian model amid concerns about deaths and injuries from the device, the Chicago Tribune reported Sunday. The Tribune said that Taser International, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., plans a $1,000 model for civilians, which is about $200 less than the police version of the device.

And, in the "you just can't make this stuff up" department:

To kick off the campaign, a Minnesota firearms dealer plans to allow himself to be zapped with the device, which will be fired by a police officer, the newspaper said.

The announcement comes after Chicago decided to stop equipping its officers with stun guns following the death of one man and injury to a teenager last week.

So, they're not safe enough for cops to use, but they are fine for homeowners? I wonder if insurance companies will be concerned enough about increased liability risks to either draw up exclusions to homeowner coverage or raise premiums. Before you buy one, perhaps you ought to call your insurance company and find out if your umbrella policy covers damages you inflict on a neighbor, their pet, your daughter's boyfriend, or even an intruder.

White supremacists across the nation have begun a billboard campaign to recruit new members.

White supremacist groups around the country are moving aggressively to recruit new members by promoting their violent, racist ideologies on billboards, in radio commercials and in leaflets tossed on suburban driveways.

The group behind the ads is the National Alliance.

.... The local chapter spent $1,500 on MetroLink ads here in St. Louis last month, plastering nearly every commuter train car in the city with a blue-and-white placard declaring "The Future belongs to us!" and listing the group's Web site and phone number.

"We want to use mainstream advertising to say to the public: We're not a shadowy group. This is what we believe in, and we're proud of it," said chapter leader Aaron Collins.

The ads are also on display in Utah, Nevada and Florida.

Off topic: I've had the Grammys on in the background for an hour and ten minutes (I missed the first 20 minutes), and it has been the most boring show ever--I almost turned it off after Jennifer Lopez and her husband did a sticky sweet duet--until just now. They woke up with a vengeance with, of all things, a tribute to Southern rock--an Allman Brothers medley that segued into Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama. Even the crowed was on their feet cheering.If there's a re-run, don't miss it. Lynyrd Skynyrd and Gretchen Wilson on Sweet Home Alabama were especially great. Here's who they were: Gretchen Wilson, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dickey Betts, Elvin Bishop, and Keith Urban. Tim McGraw too. The only one I recognized from the old days was Dickie Betts.

Update: Green Day (American Idiot) rocks. Second best moment. And not just because they are an anti-Bush band. It's like watching the Energizer Bunny. With pyrotehnics.

The Senate will hear testimony Monday from a former Coalition Provisional Authority official, Frank Willis, who will say the cash flowed large and loose during the war.

In sum: inexperienced officials, fear of decision-making, lack of communications, minimal security, no banks, and lots of money to spread around. This chaos I have referred to as a 'Wild West,'" Willis said in testimony he prepared to give Monday before a panel of Democratic senators who want to spotlight the waste of U.S. funds in Iraq.

Jeanne D'Arc of Body and Soul has an excellent post today on the latest in the torture scandals. The middle section of her post talks about 18 year old Canadian Omar Khadr who has been imprisoned for 3 years, since age 15. This week the Toronto Star called for a trial by impartial tribunal or his release.

Last year we wrote a long piece on Omar's family--which stemmed from an article titled Married to the Jihad. It depicted a reporter's interview with two Canadian al Qaeda wives, one of whom was Omar's mother, who expressed their expectation and approval of their sons joining the call to fight.

Pelican Bay prison in California has been on lockdown since Feb. 4 due to an alleged inmate plot by to kill guards.

Pelican Bay is a nightmare of a prison. Inmate conditions are deplorable.

"The 1,154 unit inmates spend about 23 hours a day in 8-by-10-foot cells, released only to exercise daily and to shower three times a week. Contact with other inmates and guards is almost nonexistent. The doors are opened by remote control and meals are pushed through slots in the wall."

The overly influential prison guard's union plays a big role in the prison's crisis, like when it sanctioned whistle-blowing guards for reporting assaults on inmates.

Wrongfully imprisoned inmates shouldn't have to beg the legislature or wait 20 years for compensation. Florida is making moves to correct the problem, and the Daytona Beach News Journal endorses it.

Wilton Dedge, released last year after spending 22 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit, will not have to wait as long. The horror over the waste of Dedge's youth, and the incontrovertible evidence of injustice, struck a chord with the state's most powerful politicians. Acknowledging that money will never replace the lost years, they've vowed to give Dedge the means to create a new life.

Better still, they're facing reality by acknowledging that more exonerations are likely to come as inmates make use of new scientific techniques to establish their innocence. Senate President Tom Lee said this week that he wants to create a uniform system for wrongfully convicted people to seek compensation -- without having to hire a lobbyist and go begging to the Legislature. Under Florida law, it would be illegal for the state to offer Dedge more than $100,000. Lee says that should be changed.

Kevin Drum has a thoughtful piece on the politics of personal destruction ongoing in the blogosphere. I agree with his hope that scalp-collecting does not become the primary focus of blogs on either side, and I believe that it won't. It's already become tiresome and completely predictable. There's so much more to the blogosphere than "we got Eason" vs. "we got Gannon."

Yet, Digby makes a good point in noting that the left will never match the right when it comes to resources for causing destruction:

by TChris

Senator Arlen Specter had to make nice to the extreme right-wing before the Republican Party grudgingly allowed him to assume the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now, it seems, he's trying to assure the extremists of his trustworthiness by embarking on a plan to confirm the appointments of the 10 judicial nominees who were filubustered during the president's first term.

Specter's strategy: take advantage of Republican gains in the Senate by reintroducing the nominees, beginning with those he considers least objectionable to Democrats. The first is timber and mining industry lobbyist William Myers III (TalkLeft background here and here). Specter hopes for support from Colorado's newly elected Senator Ken Salazar, who endorsed Myers during the first confirmation battle. Salazar's office says that Salazar will "review the nomination before taking a position."

Next will come William Pryor Jr. (TalkLeft background here, here, and here), who Specter characterizes as an established judicial moderate on the basis of five or six decisions Pryor authored during his recess appointment. That record (produced with knowledge that the eyes of the Senate were upon him) cannot overcome Pryor's disturbing advocacy of extreme positions before his ascension to the bench.

Democrats who fear being branded an obstructionist may give Specter the votes he needs to confirm Myers and Pryor. But Democrats only become relevant to the political process by standing up for their principles. Democratic Senators should stand united in continued opposition to these nominations.

The Baltimore Sun reports that the Supreme Court's decision in Booker and Fan Fan invalidating the federal sentencing guidelines but making them advisory is causing confusion among the nation's judges.

Congress is keeping a close tab on judge's post-Booker sentencings--if in its view, too many judges are using the decision to sentence below the guidelines, watch out. Congress will step in with a legislative fix.

In Congress and at the Justice Department, officials are watching for overly lenient judges. At a hearing last week, the House judiciary panel began laying the groundwork for possible legislative action to restore a stricter framework for federal sentences.

A new research study has found that fewer Americans support the death penalty as a result of the growing number of inncents on death row. A whopping 75% believe that an innocent person has been executed in the last five years.

The study is based on a 2003 Gallup poll which shows:

• 67 percent favor the death penalty.

• 74.6 percent believe an innocent person has been executed in the past five years.

• 36.7 percent believe the death penalty is applied unfairly.

The Sunday Observer reports that Abu Musal al-Zarqawi, the most hunted terrorist in Iraq, may be captured at any moment. The paper says he is in hiding in Kirkuk in Northern Iraq.

He came to Kirkuk from Mosul,' a source in the Kirkuk police department told Reuters yesterday, speaking anonymously. 'There's a possibility that he might be captured at any moment.'

What then? What difference will his capture make? Apparently not much, in terms of the war.