Ted Rall for August 01, 2014

Transcript:

Lethal injections, marked as a "humane" way to execute death-row prisoners, are turning into lengthy torture sessions. A condemned man yelled and choked for 2 hours recently in Arizona. (Man: Jesus) (Woman: I know... the movie starts in 10 minutes.) Most Americans have no problem with this. 55% still approve of capital punishment. Judging by Internet message boards, Americans view longer, more painful executions as an improvement. (Man 2: Serves 'em right!) (Man 3: I'm glad they're sufferin!) (Woman 2: Just like they hurt the victims.) It won't be long before opportunistic politicians begin calling for stretching out executions to last days, months, even years at a time. (Man 1: Everything is bigger in America... including the pain!) (Man 4: Think of all the new executioner jobs!) As always, there is a risk of overreach. (Man 1: Idiot! You executed this guy to age 117... he woul've died earlier of natural causes! (Man 5: Suckers.)