I did not intend to post this on the day that there was a buzz on the net about another execution….sometimes things just work out that way……
Okay, I am not a supporter of capital punishment. It is sanctioned murder…..period! If abortion is murder….capital punishment is also…..
I bring this up with the hopes that we can have a substantive conversation on the subject….but I am afraid that it will digress into a pro-anti abortion debate…..sad that we cannot focus on the topic and not a random statement….but what will be, will be…..
I bring the topic up because there has been a big stink in the last decade or so on whether the technique of lethal injection…there have been problems with the drug/drugs….there has been a discussion on whether it is cruel and usual punishment…..and that is a subject for a political philosophical conversation. Of course the gas chamber and electric chair were unacceptable because they were too expensive and the cruel thing also…..if we must have capital punishment what would be an acceptable technique?
Glad you asked.
That there is a shortage of lethal injection drugs is not news, but a Wyoming senator’s response to the situation is. Republican state Sen. Bruce Burns yesterday very simply pointed to state law, which commands a gas chamber to be used if those drugs aren’t accessible. Except Wyoming doesn’t have “an operating gas chamber,” and Burns sees the construction of one as too pricey, so he would like to suggest a Plan C: death by firing squad. “I consider frankly the gas chamber to be cruel and unusual, so I went with firing squad because they also have it in Utah,” said Burns, who adds that he also picked it because it’s such a cheap option. And he’s gone so far as to draft a bill that he intends to present at the start of the legislative session, which the AP reports begins Feb. 10. As for the number of death row inmates the change would affect, the answer is one: The state only has one convict on death row, and last carried out an execution in 1992.
IMO, if we must have sanctioned murder then why not a firing squad? I mean it is efficient……it is simple and inexpensive…..why not?
Thoughts?
There’s a much, much better way: Inert gas asphyxiation. The brain cannot sense there is no oxygen and does not trigger a panic response, which is the cruelest thing you can do to any oxygen breathing living organism. Its painless and quick.
Why not do what they do in China….one bullet to the head….family gets the empty case and a bill for the price of the bullet….if we must have a barbaric practice then try not to be barbaric in its execution (no pun intended)…..
Why focus on making execution “painless”? I mean dead is dead. I think a bullet to the brain is pretty efficient. Quick. Painless? I don’t know, but it’s a small matter to me and all I’ll say is this … Intentionally taking a person’s life should result in the perpetrator forfeiting his own. Period. “Sanctioned murder”? I trow not. Laws must be created and enforced to protect the innocent.
I’m still not clear why we destroy the innocent yet are so concerned about the feelings of the guilty? Who knows?
Protect the innocent? Good one. What all the innocents that lose their lives to whack-a-dooles with guns? (That is rhetorical, no need to respond)…we may call it what we like but killing is killing….and murder is killing….
Sigh … Okay, whatever you say is cool with me. Have a great weekend.
Steve this is why I do not post on emotional issues…..we all have an opinion and it could get heated…….I hope you also have a great weekend and see you Monday…..chuq
Chuq, any and every issue is the same … depending on how it’s promoted and/or defended is where emotions come in.
I define the premeditated taking of an innocent human life … whether in the womb or a full grown person, via a firearm, baseball bat, hammer, scissors, knife, car, etc. as murder.
Now personally, I see absolutely no difference in the value of a human life whether that life is still in the womb or outside of it. If one can think that killing is murder and murder is killing, then why isn’t life … life? That which is in the womb is living and human, can we agree on that?
Anyway, I agree with you that we all have opinions, I kind of think that opinions need to be made with observance of the facts regarding any issue … that perhaps is where emotions should be overruled. IMHO.
I try not to interject too much emotional stuff into my stuff….It is hard sometimes…..I agree with you and I try to overrule my emotional response, as best I can……but I am human after all and that means we have such thoughts…it cannot be helped…..like I said I am against capital punishment….but I realize that we seem to have to have it….then make it so by televising each execution on all channels the only way to avoid it is turn the damn set off….maybe that would help make the action as a deterrent more successful…just a thought
I respect that you’re against capital punishment Chuq. I’m for it for the reason I’ve already mentioned … take a life, forfeit your own. I agree with you whole-heartedly that televising executions would be a successful deterrent but that would never happen in the America we have right now. The nation over all hasn’t become North Korea or Saudi Arabia yet.
Have a great weekend…..