July 30, 2008

Satire

It's Wednesday, July 30th.

The American military allegedly launched an attack inside Pakistan on Monday, even as President George Bush called Pakistan a quote, "strong ally and vibrant democracy," end-quote.

Currently, Iran suddenly thinks being part of the axis of evil isn't so bad.

This is the Current..

Mosquitos Creating a Buzz

You no doubt love the teenagers in your life, but for schools, municipal governments, and shopowners across Canada they can be perceived as pests: Potential loiterers, vandals, grafitti artists. Enter "The Mosquito", so named because of the irritating, high-pitched sound it emits to drive away unwanted young people.

Since its arrival here in Canada, about 200 of the devices have been sold in cities across the country, including Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax and Whitehorse. The piercing sound covers a 20 to 40 metre radius. Some school boards have installed them to keep students away from areas they're not meant to be. And stores have bought them to keep teenagers from milling around storefronts after hours.

Mosquitos Violating Human Rights

Like just about any effective crowd control measure -- especially one that targets specific groups of people -- The Mosquito is generating a buzz of controversy.
In fact, these in-your-ear gadgets are a human rights concern, according to Ian Kerr.

Professor Ian Kerr holds a Canada Research Chair in Ethics, Law and Technology at the University of Ottawa. He joined us from Ottawa.

Mosquitos as a Deterrent

Schools are one of the main places you're going to see lots of kids congregating.
The problem is that they're sometimes hanging out on school property after hours, when they're not supposed to be there at all. So after repeatedly finding broken glass and other potentially dangerous debris around school property, one B-C school board decided to install the Mosquito.

Kathie Ward is the chair of the anti-vandalism committee with the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school board in British Columbia. We've reached her this morning in Pitt Meadows.



Listen to Part One:

The Slient Teacher

In Ontario, legislators are about to try for the third time to pass a law that would have provincial health authorities assume you are prepared to donate your organs, unless you stipulate otherwise. Currently it's assumed you won't donate them, unless you sign off on it.

As a result, some die waiting for life-saving transplants in Canada.What about those prepared to donate their entire bodies to science? They are scarce.

Medical schools and students rely on people doing just that because a fundamental part of an aspiring doctor's training involves dissecting human bodies. In an earlier era, those bodies would have been unclaimed cadavers often destitute people, or even bodies stolen from graveyards. Today, though, people must bequeath their bodies to science.

The CBC's Pauline Dakin has prepared a documentary about a journey of life, death and learning. It's called The Silent Teacher, and it first aired on The Current in April.



Listen to Part Two: