Lethal Injection is Not Unconstitutional

Today, the United States Supreme Court handed down an important decision ruling that lethal injection as a method of execution does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.  The practice, therefore, does not violate the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and may be imposed.

The key to the decision is, of course, the determination of whether or not lethal injection is "cruel and unusual."  Chief Justice John Roberts concludes the lead opinion of a 7-2 majority stating:

Throughout our history, whenever a method of execution has been challenged in this Court as cruel and unusual, the Court has rejected the challenge.  Our society has nonetheless moved to more humane methods of carrying out capital punishment.  The firing squad, hanging, the electric chair, and the gas chamber have each in turn given way to more humane methods, culminating in today's consensus on lethal injection.  The broad framework of the Eighth Amendment has accommodated this progress toward more humane methods of execution, and our approval of a particular method in the past has not precluded legislatures from taking the steps they deem appropriate, in light of new developments, to ensure humane capital punishment.

Lethal injection is the most humane and least cruel method of execution that mankind has invented so far.  It is also not unusual in that at least thirty states use the method for their executions.  Lethal injection is by no means "cruel and unusual."

Chief Justice Roberts and the current court seems appropriately deferential to the will of the people as expressed through elected representatives, rather than appointed judges.

Capital punishment is, no doubt, controversial and subject to political debate.  But that debate should properly be held in Congress and the legislatures of the states.  The debate should not be undermined by backdoor legal attacks.  Thanks to the Supreme Court for closing the back door.

Obama's a Liberal . . . And Hiding It

I'm not sure what hurts Barack Obama's candidacy more, the fact that people are discovering that he's really a true-blue liberal or the fact that he's trying to hide his liberalism.  

Personally, I would have more respect for the man if he would tell us what he really thought instead of hiding behind vacuous platitudes and say-nothing speeches.  And I certainly have no respect for Obama now claiming that he didn't complete and never read his answers to candidate questionnaires from his campaign for the Illinois Senate.

In December, The Politico published a story on Obama's 1996 responses to a questionnaire submitted to him by a liberal Chicago group.  In his responses, Obama stated that he supported state legislation to "ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns."  He also stated that he was completely opposed to capital punishment.  He was opposed to notifying the parents of minors seeking abortion and opposed to any other restriction on abortion.

Obama's presidential campaign backed away from those views trying to paint their candidate as more moderate and mainstream.  The official position was that the questionnaires at issue were completed by an underling and that Obama never saw them.

Today, The Politico published a follow up story with a copy of the questionnaire showing Obama's handwritten additions.  (Sounds a lot like Hillary Clinton's tall tale of sniper fire being proven untrue by CBS's videotape.  Surprised kudos to the media for actually reporting on these stories.)

Obama's claimed ignorance is not true.  He answered the questionnaire and he's not telling the truth about it now.

And Obama's not telling the truth about his present "moderate" positions either.  I agree with the treasurer of the group that issued the questionnaire in 1996, Aviva Patt.  She's quoted as saying that she "always believed [the liberal responses to the questionnaire] to be his views . . . what he really believes in."  Now, Patt stated, Obama is "tailoring" his positions "to make himself more palatable as a nationwide candidate."  Don't forget, Obama was ranked as the most liberal senator in 2007.

What's worse, being a liberal or being a liberal in moderate clothing?  

Either way, Obama should not be elected president.