The fate of the DC sniper

[Mad Fnorder]

I'm opposed to the death penalty on economic and social policy grounds. That being said, I'm not going to kick and scream to stop many executions once all appeals have been finally exhausted.

[Niu]

However, it vaguely galls me that a society that tiptoes around the very idea of death in so many regards (to the point of utterly forgetting that much of our constructs were built around, in some way or another, the inevitability of death, unconsciously or consciously) can engage in, for example, the stark contradiction that is forbidding the individual from choosing whether he wants to die or not essentially regardless, yet having a tagged little clause that says the state can decide over this under a circumstance. I'm all the willing to accept that freedom just doesn't really exist and that the State is capable (and entitled) to control aspects of our lives we can't control either, but controlling the very life, even if circumstantially, honestly feels like a straight contract breach.

Weellll said!!!