Death penalty cruel

If some people have their way, I could soon turn on a television and watch electricity shoot through a man's body until his head smokes and his eyeballs bleed. He could soil himself right in front of my eyes as his body spasms and his skin turns a charred black from the electricity.\nNow that's entertainment.\nThis is American culture at its best. I would be able watch a man be tortured to death. And here's the best part: Because the man being executed is a horrible human being, I can feel justified in watching it. I can watch him die and never take my hand from the popcorn bowl, never feel a tinge of guilt. \nOklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh has even suggested that his execution might be televised, a move that could set a dangerous precedent.\nThe state says it's perfectly fine to put a person to death. The religious right claims that this is "eye for an eye" justice and even George W. Bush will condone this act, just as he did while overseeing executions while governor of Texas.\nThe death penalty is not wrong just because of what it does to criminals. It's wrong because of what it does to us. It is not the right of humans to take the life of other humans. What's so hard to understand about that? It's simple. I don't have the power to give life to those I don't think should die. Why should I have the power to give death to those I don't think should live?\nThe "Religious Wrong," whose membership includes Bush, claims execution has a Biblical past and is therefore justified. They claim "eye for an eye" again and again. Never mind that the word "Christian" means "follower of Christ," and he spoke out vehemently against the death penalty. Never mind one of the commandments the Religious Wrong is trying to get into the schools claims "Thou shall not kill." It is not "Thou shall not kill unless…" Einstein once claimed "God does not play dice." Are we then to assume he plays word games?\nWe live in a culture that reveres vengeance. Getting back at those who got you is considered a virtue. Why? Is it manly? Is it courageous? What virtue is there in watching a man get killed? \nHatred cannot be twisted into righteousness, no matter at whom it is aimed. To hate and to kill are inherently wrong, no matter who the recipient is. It defies logic to condemn killing with killing. \nWhat difference does it make that a convict requests to be killed? Why should he have a say in his sentence? Let him rot in jail for the rest of his life. He can't hurt anyone there. By killing him we become like him.\nMcVeigh's sins are too great for the judicial system to bear. That much is obvious. No sentence could punish this man adequately for the pain he caused. Through the act of killing, he has corrupted himself. \nI suspect the look on McVeigh's face when the bombs exploded will be similar to the looks on the faces of those who could sitting comfortably on their couches on his execution day, remote in hand, smiling at the torture and death of another human being.