17.2 - Footnote: Arkansas to create "assembly line of death"

Footnote: Arkansas to create "assembly line of death"

As a Footnote to that, here's a quick reminder of why this remains important, that we as a nation remain enamored of death.

Starting on April 17, Arkansas is scheduled to execute 11 people in eight days in what Rita Sklar, executive director of the Arkansas ACLU, accurately called "a ghastly assembly line of death."

And why the rush? Some legal - no cruel pun intended - deadline? Well, there is a time issue, but it's not a legal one. It's because the state's supply of midazolam, one of the drugs used by the state in the process of poisoning the prisoners, expires on April 30. So it's a case of "Omigosh! If we don't kill them now, we won't have another chance until we don't know when! So hurry up!"

What makes this all the stranger is that Arkansas has not carried out a death sentence in over 11 years, during which time its murder rate has actually declined slightly or at least remained just about the same.

In fact, 31 states still have this remnant of medieval barbarity on the books, even though, happily, it is being imposed less and less - but that's a trend that Arkansas seems determined to reverse.