From david at common-sense.org Fri Sep 28 15:57:29 2007 From: david at common-sense.org (David Mills) Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 15:57:29 -0400 Subject: Consider This: Injecting Reason Into the Debate Message-ID: <013501c80209$cd539fb0$7901a8c0@COMSENSE.LOCAL> The COMMON SENSE Foundation Consider This. INJECTING REASON INTO THE DEBATE The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a Kentucky case that questions the Constitutionality of the lethal injection method of execution. Observers believe that no execution will proceed in North Carolina (which uses the same method as Kentucky) until this USSC decision is announced, which will likely be as late as next summer. No state-sponsored murder has occurred in North Carolina since the execution of Sammy Flippen on Aug. 18, 2006. It's getting harder to argue that lethal injection should be legal. Research has increasingly called into question the notion that lethal injection is painless; in fact it seems that it may well be an excruciating way to die. Those who don't care whether executions are "cruel and unusual" are letting their emotional thirst for vengeance get in the way of their Constitutional analysis. While the going-on-two-year break from executions is a much-needed respite, though, it really amounts to "tinkering with the machinery of death." Abolition of state-sponsored murder is the most reasonable response to this emotional debate. Once abolition occurs, we can all save lives, save money, and build a safer society that better values life. Until then, we should be satisfied that technicalities are keeping the death chamber dark at Raleigh's Central Prison. ---------- Consider This is brought to you each week by the Common Sense Foundation. All editions of Consider This are available from a link on the first page of our website, http://www.common-sense.org . To register for a free subscription to Consider This, or to unsubscribe, please visit our website. If you find "Consider This" challenging, informative, and useful, as many of our readers tell us they do, please show your support by donating to the Common Sense Foundation today. The Common Sense Foundation provides "Consider This" to thousands of readers free, three times per week. We get plenty of feedback from readers of all types, from all over North Carolina and all over the world! But producing "Consider This" takes time and energy, and we need your support to keep doing the work we do. That's why we want to take this opportunity to encourage you to make a tax-deductible donation to the Common Sense Foundation to support "Consider This." Contribute $50. Or $100. Or more, if you can afford it. We'll take contributions in any amount, of course, in support of promoting progressive public policy. Your contribution is tax-deductible. Click on this link to learn how to contribute: http://www.common-sense.org/?fnoc=membership You can contribute by check or credit card, over the Web or over the phone. Help us keep "Consider This" going! Help support the Common Sense Foundation. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/common-sense/attachments/20070928/faa435ac/attachment-0001.htm