Lets take the WH and pack the courts with (relative) Lefties, so that we can get off the list of countries that continue this barbaric practice.

The words "cruel" and "unusual" don't belong together when discussing the death penalty, since the usual plan is to be intentionally cruel. This lethal injection business is just the latest example. It would be relatively easy to kill someone painlessly. A large overdose of heroin would do the job, and death might even be a pleasant experience for the condemned. Instead, we get a procedure that collapses the lungs as the first step, so the condemned person gets to suffocate for a few seconds, until they inject something that stops the heart. So we have someone who is suffocating, probably while conscious or semi-conscious, then we give them the pleasure of a heart attack. What? We couldn't add an additional torture step to the process? This just illustrates the strong elements of revenge and (biblical?) retribution involved with the death penalty. It has nothing to do with justice. It makes some people feel better to kill their fellow citizens, and that's about it.