Cruel and Unusual Punishment!
Judges Set Hurdles for Lethal Injection
By ADAM LIPTAK
Judges in several states cite new evidence suggesting that
prisoners have endured agonizing executions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/12/us/12lethal.html?th&emc=th
..................
One of the cruelest features of American penal practice -- despised by virtually all civilized nations around the globe which have now abolished it -- is the imposition (with numerous prejudices) of the death penalty on the one in a hundred murderers unfortunate enough to have drawn the attention of the ratings hungry media. The report today on the 'humane' form of execution which supplements the tortures of the other four practices in the U.S. -- hanging, frying well done, suffocating in a gas chamber, and blowing to bits with a firing squad -- puts the lie to ANY form of 'humane' execution. Somehow Americans have been persuaded that only major physical torture counts with our Constitutional prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishment." They ignore the mental horrors of living with such a sentence many long years -- and with some of those so tortured innocent of the crime for which they have been convicted. It is no wonder that a large percentage of those on our death rows are suicidal.
There is nothing like a death penalty crime in America to entertain the public. Now we have extended the game to Iraq and the absurd trial of Hussein, whom we are well on the way to converting to a martyr. And the obscenity of running by a jury the horrors of 9/11 to win death (and martyrdom) for a character who wants his death to be memorialized out there is sick making for all involved. Taking the life of a wanna be failed terrorist is no way going the heal the pain which we all feel about the horrible loss of lives that grim sunny day. I had my moments as a husband with a wife down there somewhere. But revenge killing is not the way to go. Killing is wrong except in self or other defense. And those who sponsor it for other reasons should be condemned as the 'terrorists' they, themselves, have become.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli in The Prince)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
By ADAM LIPTAK
Judges in several states cite new evidence suggesting that
prisoners have endured agonizing executions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/12/us/12lethal.html?th&emc=th
..................
One of the cruelest features of American penal practice -- despised by virtually all civilized nations around the globe which have now abolished it -- is the imposition (with numerous prejudices) of the death penalty on the one in a hundred murderers unfortunate enough to have drawn the attention of the ratings hungry media. The report today on the 'humane' form of execution which supplements the tortures of the other four practices in the U.S. -- hanging, frying well done, suffocating in a gas chamber, and blowing to bits with a firing squad -- puts the lie to ANY form of 'humane' execution. Somehow Americans have been persuaded that only major physical torture counts with our Constitutional prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishment." They ignore the mental horrors of living with such a sentence many long years -- and with some of those so tortured innocent of the crime for which they have been convicted. It is no wonder that a large percentage of those on our death rows are suicidal.
There is nothing like a death penalty crime in America to entertain the public. Now we have extended the game to Iraq and the absurd trial of Hussein, whom we are well on the way to converting to a martyr. And the obscenity of running by a jury the horrors of 9/11 to win death (and martyrdom) for a character who wants his death to be memorialized out there is sick making for all involved. Taking the life of a wanna be failed terrorist is no way going the heal the pain which we all feel about the horrible loss of lives that grim sunny day. I had my moments as a husband with a wife down there somewhere. But revenge killing is not the way to go. Killing is wrong except in self or other defense. And those who sponsor it for other reasons should be condemned as the 'terrorists' they, themselves, have become.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli in The Prince)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
posted by Ed Kent at 8:32 AM
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