Death Should Be Hard to Watch

This blog got shoveled to the back of IA for this week so I had to post it here to satisfy the needs of my ego.

On Monday the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Blaze v. Rees. Just in case you haven’t been one of those uber geek law students who follows the SC like a 14 year old girl watching American Idol, the case is about lethal injection, and whether or not it is cruel and unusual punishment. In executions by lethal injection three drugs are administered to the condemned. The first is basically a pain killer, and it is supposed to drop the blood pressure, kill pain, and cause sleep. The second drug is a paralytic which, as its name suggests, causes paralysis in all the muscles except the heart. The third drug stops the heart. The potential problem arises when the first drug is administered incorrectly. Without the first drug, the second leaves the condemned paralyzed, awake, and completely capable of feeling the third drug rush in and stop the heart (which is apparently very painful).
The argument is about what standard should be applied to potential risks of future harm, who should supervise administration of the first drug, and the availability of alternative methods. It was all very interesting
The part that I found the MOST interesting was an exchange between Justice Stevens and Mr. Englert. Justice Stevens seemed to believe that the problem was not the first drug but the second (this is mentioned several times but this time caught my attention). If it weren’t for the second drug, there would be very little risk of an incorrect administration of the first drug going unnoticed. Without the paralytic it should be pretty easy to tell if the condemned has been effectively knocked out by the first drug because I am pretty sure you could test for feeling, and if the condemned isn’t paralyzed, then the reaction should be pretty apparent. Like fish on a stream bank apparent. Mr. Englert made the argument that the risk was justified because the second drug was necessary to maintain “the dignity of the process.” Not that the second drug was necessary to complete the execution, but only that, “You don’t want to have unpleasant appearance of death at the time.”
Which brings me to my point. The unpleasant appearance of death? Do juries think the person is going to “live on a farm” when the verdict is rendered? It’s not like death row is a tank in a dentist’s office and inmates gets to go back out to sea when they get flushed, kids. Who cares if the death has an unpleasant appearance? I’m not making an argument for or against the death penalty here, but I generally believe death = unpleasant. The idea that executions need to be “dignified” for the watcher is absurd.
Do you think the condemned really cares? Obviously they care if it is painful, but do they honestly care how uncomfortable the witnesses and the warden are? If it were up to me I’d want to go in the most messy and disgusting way possible. If you’re going to kill me you should have to get your hands and your psyche dirty. If you’re going to execute me, I want it to be painless for me, and Tarantino directing it on pay per view. Just saying.

Funeral Protests? Seriously?

The ink has barely dried on Heath Ledger's death certificate and already there are people getting ready to protest his funeral.

Seriously? Why do you protest a funeral? The dude is DEAD. What exactly is it you hope to achieve? Keep him from making any more movies about gay cowboys? Check. Keep him from making more money from his gay movie? Check.

Where did this crap come from? Protesting at the funerals of dead soldiers, actors, or anyone else for that matter is just plain stupid. Worse still, it is about the least Christian thing I can think of.

If I recall correctly the scriptures say we should "...weep with them that weep."

I could be wrong but I think there are also some things in there about "curse not" and leaving wrath to God.

Or is it just me?

A New Year

Oh goodie... January is here and the time has come for resolutions, goals, and plans. I truly enjoy hearing people talk about all the things they plan to do in the upcoming year. I honestly hope they achieve their goals. I just don't think they will. The gym will be packed in January and empty in February, nicotine patch sales will spike and then drop, and houses will be cleaned and quickly return to their state of disorder.

On the other hand, because I don't use January as my arbitrary life goal reset date I tend to feel a little left out. So... This year I've found a way to be a part of the group without having to lie to myself about what I will do in the upcoming year. I have come up with my list of things I would like to do in 2008 but resolve not to do.

Wear a bluetooth ear piece. I just don't need that kind of communication access and I'd rather spend the money on something else.

Run a marathon. It would be cool to tell people I did it but in all honesty, I'd prefer to spend my time giving a half ass effort to a variety of hobbies rather than focus all that attention on one.

Read a specified number of books. Once I resolved to finish a list of books before the year's end. I ended up reading 2 or 3 books that really sucked because I felt guilty for putting them down.

Tell some people how I feel about them. I'd like to let a certain snob know what a cow I think she is, a certain jerk know how much I'd like to beat him senseless, and a virtual army of kids with their pants half way down their butts know how stupid they look, but I probably wont. They would probably ignore me and honestly I'd like to think I don't care enough to waste the effort.

Go on a fad diet. I'd like to reduce the waist to inseam ratio but I resolve not to do it in 21 days, 6 weeks, or with just 1 meeting per week. I resolve not to say to anyone that I am on a plan, diet, or program which can be found at Barnes and Noble in the best seller section.

Organize/re-organize my life. It's not that my life runs with the precision of a swiss watch, I just refuse to spend more time planning, organizing, sharpening the saw, or maximizing than living. I'll work on doing some things better but I will not buy, program, or subscribe to anything to force myself to do so.

Limit television time to a specified number of hours. I'll try to avoid television. I think having a new baby should give me some distraction. But I refuse to hold a stop watch every time I sit down to a new episode of "The Office."

Be depressed if I fail on any of these. Particularly the one about telling people how I feel. I am not a perfect person. I might become obsessed with weight, enamored with running, or pissed off enough to actually abandon self control and speak my mind.

Continue writing lists that don't really matter... If I feel like blogging something I will but I don't think I should spend my time trying to brainstorm so I'll have something to post on the internet.