http://www.law.berkeley.edu/clinics/dpclinic/LethalInjection/index.html

Which always takes me to a closely linked issue:

Animal euthanasia (from the Greek meaning "good death") is the act of inducing humane death in an animal.[1] Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress.

In domesticated animals, this process is commonly referred to by the euphemisms "lay down," "put down," "put to sleep," "put out of its/his/her misery," or "sent away to the farm." Horses are euthanized if they suffer from an intractable illness or a complicated injury.

Let us enjoy life while we can.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKzWsreOcfM&feature=related

There are new discussions of the manner in which we execute our convicted felons. Should we use one fatal drug as our injection or three? How does it feel?   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It_iSr6eDVs&feature=PlayList&p=E7A57CB0037433D8&index=0&playnext=1

That is the question. I mean to be or not to be? Well that question has already been asked and answered by the lawmakers, by the prosecutors, by the juries, by the courts and the republican national committees.

So it's time to move on. Not moveon.org. I mean it's time to move on. We, as a country like to kill people. We like to torture people also but that is the subject of the second half of this exposition.

We even enjoy watching movies about killing people; that is executing them. The Green Mile comes to mind. Oh we say we enjoy the movie for the story but this country really enjoys taking some big black bastard and putting him in a chair and attaching electrodes to his body and

BAM...POW...SPARKS...ZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTT......ZAP.......

I mean what future do most minorities in this country face anyway? Oh there are many minorities who win the lottery...less percentage wise than the whites born into wealth and such. But on the whole, substandard jobs, substandard housing, substandard medical care...well a substandard life to say the least. And so many of the males end up in prison anyway, which is not a lot of fun to begin with. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE AFRAID OF THE DARK.

Well humane societies all over the country are worried about all this. It makes us look so bad and all to other nations. NOT THAT OTHER NATIONS ARE EVER GOING TO TELL US WHAT THE FUCK TO DO.

Anyway back to the humane societies. I mean the ASPCA worries about how we dispose of our abandoned pets and all. I mean we do 'put down' an awful lot of pets in this country:

Pacelle's decision to oppose a Commission mandated No Kill goal for San Francisco is also not surprising. Recently, Pacelle defended the slaughter of some 60 puppies in Wilkes County, NC; called for the extermination of 145 Pit Bulls, with most being gassed them to death, in the same facility; defended a Louisiana shelter's decision to kill every living creature in its facility-including cats-because some dogs came down with a mild corona virus; and (through his Vice President of Companion Animals) told an Iowa town that  passed a round-up-and-kill plan for cats that HSUS had no problem with killing stray cats http://joyofcatherding.blogspot.com/2009/03/hsus-aspca-fight-no-kill-goals-support.html

So it appears that turning this country into a no kill zone, at least for pets, has gone by the wayside. I mean I suppose we could just gather them all up and send them to secluded spots in Alaska but there is great fear that they would all be hunted down by scope bearers in helicopters. We are still working on this alternative. 

So what is the proper manner in which to 'put down' our abandoned pets?  As far as I know, there are few shelters that still use the electric chair, or electric kennel...or whatever. From the above link it appears that gassing is still used but this leaves a nasty taste in our mouths.

First there is the issue of when you decide that poochy is getting a little old and its time to say goodbye, kind of like issues regarding living wills:

There is a movement lead generally by veterinarians, more and more pet owners are learning about and using hospice care for their dying pets. One example of hospice care for animals is pawspice.

According to Alice Villalobos, DVM, "the pawspice program provides comfort care for both the family and the patient. Pawspice provides clients with end-of-life care and staff with a protocol that validates a mutual willingness to endure its special purpose..."

According to the website Veterinary Practice News, they have developed a guideline or sorts to ..."help clients determine for themselves when a pawspice plan is good for the pet or when it is time to make the final call for euthanasia..."

The vets use a HHHHMM Quality of Life (Q of L) Scale to measure seven special parameters. The acronym stands for Hurt, Hydration, Hunger, Hygiene, Happiness, Mobility and More good days than bad days. Each parameter is measured from zero to 10. Evaluate each parameter and try to alleviate each problem by at least 30 percent to 50 percent.

This scale is to help the pet owners monitor their terminal pets on a daily basis.

Go to their site here and read further information on the pawspice plan and see if it is something that you need to discuss with your family and your vet.  http://www.pettrustlawblog.com/articles/general/pet-euthanasia/

Certainly we wish to 'put down' our pets in a humane manner. And the method should not vary just because one puppy was loved and another was not.

Pets are almost always euthanized by intravenous injection,[citation needed] typically a very high dose of a barbiturate such as pentobarbital. Unconsciousness, respiratory then cardiac arrest follow rapidly, usually within 30 seconds[2]. Observers generally describe it as a quick and peaceful death. Sometimes the animal makes a gasping sound after the death, which is air being exhaled by the lungs. The animal may twitch for a moment.

Remember now, the animal may twitch for a moment and this will no doubt be the case for the executed felon.

I have come up with a better way to handle executions of convicted felons in this country. And I am surprised that some humane organization has not already proffered it.

Why not just permit them to get high just one more time. I mean the convicted felon would go into a dream, a wonderful dream and then just never wake up.

Start him off with a nice fatty; a big round doobie that will relax him and get him ready for the big one.

Then give him a nice bong hit of some good opium.

Then inject him with some of the best horse around.

Look, this will serve so many purposes. I mean the big bugaboo against drugs and all is that they tend to get people addicted and lead them to a life of crime.

HELL THAT ALREADY HAPPENED HERE. I mean the guy is going to die anyway.

And you could make a party of it. Let some of his friends and relatives arrive and make it a nice big party. A celebration of death so to speak.

I mean, America loves going away parties.

Now there might be objections with regard to permitting the visitors to hit the bong. But good legal drugs could be made available like whiskey and Vick's Nyquil.  Oh and that last twitch might not only be the signal for the final goodbye, but under the influence it might lead to a couple of good hearty laughs by all.

And, just in case the authorities find out they made a mistake somewhere and got the wrong guy...hey, at least they know he enjoyed a good going away party.

Well, it was just a thought.

Now, let us move on to torture.

The purpose of torture, as I understand it, is to get good information. I mean  still believe that if you could just tie the former vice-president to a chair and start cutting his toes off, you might get some good information at first.

Where exactly are the relevant documents?

How many BJ's did you receive from oil company execs?

How many BJ's did you give w during your eight years in office?

WHERE ARE ALL YOUR MONEYED ACCOUNTS?

How much did Haliburton really pay you over the course of eight years?

I really feel that after the second or third digital excision, we could get some answers to these very important questions.

But there may be more humane ways of getting the information you want from terrorists like Dick Cheney.

Which reminds me. Do you realize where our Founding Fathers spent most of their time while conspiring against the Crown?

Was it the local church?

Was it the Town Hall?

Was it some Community Center?

Nah. The traitors met in the ale houses. The Sacred Ale Houses. And why was that?

Well ale loosens the tongue.   

WHAT DO YOU REALLY THINK JOHN ADAMS?

HOW ABOUT ANOTHER SAMUEL ADAMS?

Well you catch my drift.

Listen, if they had just brought some good weed, good whiskey and some fine opiates to our sponsored death camps,  our military would have gotten so much more information and sooner.

Oh some of these Muslims were against drug and alcohol use you say. Hell, just show them some good videos of waterboarding and lashings and guttings...hell just show them some videos from 24 or something from the Tarentino archives. That would surely loosen these Jihadists up.

And loosening up is what I am attempting to get at here.

How many times has a close friend finally confided to you that he secretly carries his sister's old panties in his back pocket? And where did he make this disclosure to you?

Was it in church? Was it in the men's room at the office?

Of course not. Most probably it was at the local Ale House.

And recalling your days at the frat house, when did your room mate finally admit to you that he once masturbated while watching Schwartznigger pumping weights?

Why over a couple beers and a nice fat dooobie. That's when.

We could get some of our drugs of the street and back into the prisons and holding tanks where they belong.

Maybe if we purchase the opium produced in Afghanistan for a decent price and put the substance to good use we could better comply with Eighth Amendment mandates and Geneva Conventions.

THIS JUST IN:

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - The United States' first marijuana cafe opened on Friday, posing an early test of the Obama administration's move to relax policing of medical use of the drug.

The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give certified medical marijuana users a place to get hold of the drug and smoke it -- as long as they are out of public view -- despite a federal ban.

"This club represents personal freedom, finally, for our members," said Madeline Martinez, Oregon's executive director of NORML, a group pushing for marijuana legalization.

"Our plans go beyond serving food and marijuana," said Martinez. "We hope to have classes, seminars, even a Cannabis Community College, based here to help people learn about growing and other uses for cannabis."   http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5AD06O20091114?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews