Death Penalty Painful? Well, DUH!

I love being from Tennessee. It's a beautiful state and the people are friendly. Most of all, people in Tennessee are generally sensible and down-to-earth. We are the Volunteer State and that's a well-earned title. If you need help doing something, we're there. I think half the state headed south in the wake of Katrina. We have high numbers of men and women who volunteer for the military. If your car won't start in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Tennessee, you don't even have to ask someone to jump-start the battery. At that first "click" of the starter, the good 0l' boy in the pick-up next to you is already grabbing the jumper cables out of his truck box. We're just sensible.

Why in the WORLD then has some judge ruled the death penalty as conducted by lethal injection unconstitutional on the basis of "cruel and unusual punishment" but Old Sparky, the electric chair was drug out of the closet and used to zap a killer 'til his eyeballs popped out a couple of weeks ago? Does anyone besides me see the stupidity here as demonstrated by our judicial system?? How about the sheer irony? Does that not just baffle you?

What is the deal with these judges legislating from the bench? Our legislative process is such that it takes a bill through both houses of the state legislature and then in front of the State Supreme Court to "vet it for constitutionality" before the governor signs it into law. This is how all our legislative processes in this country work. The death penalty law has been passed and used for YEARS and now some judge takes it upon his subjective mind to declare it is "unconstitutional".

What's so funny is that he bases that subjective opinion on "cruel and unusual punishment". What can be more humane than lethal injection? Let's get real here - the most cruelty that could be involved would be if the doc doing the IV missed the vein. Shoot, if that's the case, then I should have several viable lawsuits against dingaling nurses in my doctor's office and at the Red Cross for jabbing me full of holes in search of the "disappearing blood vessel". (Honey, I just know it was there. I could feel it! Let me try one more time...)

Hey, I have an idea. Let's do away with lethal injection altogether and just run with Ol' Sparky. He obviously still works after 45 years and he's easy to use. Strap 'em in and flip the switch. Wait a few seconds. Repeat. The ultimate 'taser! Woo hoo! And he's much more entertaining and dramatic. It gives the families of the victims better "closure" to see the murderer of their precious loved ones fried like a green tomato. Fires up the protesters more, too. Nothing gets liberal leftists more riled up than a good zapping.

Alternatively, we could go with one of the various middle eastern methods. Hanging seems common and so is beheading. I personally like Saddam's old method of getting rid of people he didn't like - shredding them starting with the feet. I really wish they'd used that on him. The phrase "hanging is too good for him" was very applicable in his case.

I know the argument against the death penalty in general is that some innocent people get "sent on" by accident. That's probably true, especially in the days before DNA and high tech forensics. That's where Barry Sheck (sp?) and his Innocence Project comes in. I'm all for them going over old cases and funding DNA testing just so we make doubly sure we got the right low-life to zap or hang or shoot or whatever we end up as an alternative to the cruel and unusual lethal injection.

Yeah, right...