It is curious how this killing thing works.  You and I are not allowed to kill another.  Just think of the chaos indiscriminate killing would be if whims, hatreds and feuds would be allowed to proliferate.  But, we have a system that begins with the Constitution and then flows down to the Supreme Court where at present there is a moratorium on killing by the STATE (or the UNITED STATES) until some technicalities are straightened out.  In the present situation where a killer condemned to death and in prison for 20 years is having his contention that lethal injection is unconstitutional, two of the nine justices are out in the open for death no matter what.

This is so far removed from the deaths that pile up in other corners of the world; all perfectly legal.  Our Soldiers are taught how to kill with our blessings that they persist where others, brothers and sisters in arms, are killed by roadside bombs and “suicide” murderers on a daily basis and these are not in uniform and are not part of an organized opposition army.

The Police, under pressure of gangs, thugs and unstable people shoot to kill.  There are armies of mercenaries, some supported and directed by agencies in the U.S.; they have the official blessing to go and kill indiscriminately.  Of course, if you are in the line of fire you would be crazy not to fire back and try to liquidate the threat coming at you.  I suppose the old question about someone entering your castle to steal or do you harm is a legitimate target for you to kill if you are allowed to own and use weapons.  But, that brings up the question of why do we have police in the first place?  Why do we have laws and courts to interpret them?

Sam Alito, newly appointed and approved by the Senate, joined with the arch conservative on the court, Antonin Scalia, to see nothing wrong with any method of killing prisoners who went through the judicial process and then spent years on “death rows” while waiting for appeals to be heard and denied.

The death penalty is only one of the hangovers from the time of the fang and claw that tear the fabric of civilization we have erected at such cost over the millennia.  There IS room for dissension and differences among us but what have we become when we are on again and off again on this subject of the death penalty?  There are alternatives and they need not be the bloody retributive measures we still resort to.  Animals are better about this than we humans. They kill for food and not for domination over others.  At the head of the food chain, we set a bad example.