On Thanksgiving, Be Thankful:

You're not on death row. The U.S.'s self-righteous fascination with vengeance and obliterating the uncomfortable is a hot topic in today's New York Times. Ralph Blumenthal has an article on the death penalty and the mentally ill, in which he highlights a number of prisoners around the country who are seriously mentally ill and waiting to be executed for crimes they committed, including one, Guy T. LeGrande, who represented himself in his trial.

Mr. LeGrande, was hired to kill the wife of another man, who is not mentally ill and is serving a life sentence for his part in the killing. The irony here certainly cannot be overlooked. Obviously, prosecutors took the easy way out. The more serious perpetrator of the crime receives a life term, while the tool with which he committed his crime will be executed by the state. The one who was more difficult to convict receives the lighter sentence, while the one who was easy to convict, the one whom we feel most repulsed by receives the death penalty.

In a related article, Adam Liptak reports that Kentucky's Supreme Court has ruled that the "cruel and unusual punishment" prohibition does not preclude the absence of pain. Thus if the drugs used to bring about the death of a convicted murderer cause pain, regardless of its degree, that's okay by them. That should make the self-righteous among us who enjoy their sanctimonious position on the death penalty feel very good about themselves as they stuff turkey into their mouths today.

"The death penalty has nothing to do with justice and everything to do with masking our own guilt with feelings of piety and self exoneration." — Anon.