Scientific American - Bad Execution: SA gives a good, non-political rundown of the problems with lethal injection. It points out that only two of states have released statistics on their executions:
In veterinary medicine, the federal government and professional associations keep data on animal euthanasia and have developed guidelines and procedures in accord with the research. Obviously, the same cannot be done for human execution techniques. It would help, however, if states released their data on lethal injections: only two have done so, leaving scientists able to analyze only 41 of the 904 lethal injections that have been conducted in the U.S. (at press time). More complete information would surely help society surmount the lingering uncertainties regarding the deadly protocol and its application.
*snip*
Perhaps capital punishment can never be anything but inhumane, but until society is willing to accept that principle, it is obliged to execute as humanely as it can. Certainly some ways of killing are less cruel than others. So what can and must government do to be more humane? Clearly, the time has come for renewed public discussion and consideration of the death penalty, including all its distasteful details.
I’m for public executions myself. Yep, I’m anti-death penalty to the nth degree, but people will not take a stand against it until they actually *see* it. Hell, states can hold a lottery for witnesses just like for jury duty. Just a thought.
Climbtothestars.org - Stephanie is blogging from Supernova 2007 in San Francisco and discusses an interesting exchange:
Yesterday evening in the skyscraper, I met David Isenberg, who instead of asking the very conventional “so, what do you do?” question, asked me “so, what do you care about?”
What a great question to ask somebody you’ve just met. It kind of blew my mind. Personally, I’ve come to dread the “what do you do?” question, because the answer is usually something like “uh, well, I’m a freelance consultant… blogging 101, stuff, teenagers, talks… bleh”.
Something to remember.
And I think I’m in the wrong business. I’ve gotta hand it to a homegirl who turns a hustle into dollars. I hadn’t peeped Heather Armstrong’s site in a while, so I was shocked when I saw that she’d bought a new house (a very nice one, at least by the pics I might add). It’s not the house that shocked me per se, but the fact that her blog is paying for it. From her about page:
This website chronicles my life from a time when I was single and making a lot of money as a web designer in Los Angeles, to when I was dating the man who would become my husband, to when I lost my job and lived life as an unemployed drunk, to when I married my husband and moved to Utah, to when I became pregnant, to when I threw up and became unbearably swollen during the pregnancy, to the birth, to the aftermath, to the postpartum depression that landed me in a mental hospital. I’m better now.
In October 2005 I began running enough ads on this website that my husband was able to quit his job and become a Stay at Home Father (SAHF) or a (censored by Rash). He takes both very seriously. This website now supports my family (emphasis by Rash).
She and her husband get to stay at home with the kid all day? And buy a new house? Just from blog ads?
I’m doing something wrong.
Comments (2)
You know she was the Valedictorian at Bartlett High School, eh?
I think you just didn’t get into the business in time. Besides, she’s always complaining about how high her medical insurance costs are b/c of the self-employed aspect. They might be one of the “just one medical catastrophe away from bankruptcy” families. I hope not.