Via Ed Whelan, I see that Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski believes that our current system of execution—in which we strive for bloodlessness and the minimization of pain so as to aid the consciences of those who support the death penalty—is hopelessly flawed. Here's Kozinski:
The enterprise is flawed. Using drugs meant for individuals with medical needs to carry out executions is a misguided effort to mask the brutality of executions by making them look serene and peaceful—like something any one of us might experience in our final moments. ... But executions are, in fact, nothing like that. They are brutal, savage events, and nothing the state tries to do can mask that reality. Nor should it. If we as a society want to carry out executions, we should be willing to face the fact that the state is committing a horrendous brutality on our behalf.
A judge after my own heart! What does Kozinski suggest?
The guillotine is probably best but seems inconsistent with our national ethos.
Well, we need to work on that ethos! To me, brothers and sisters! We must convince the masses that the clean and quick separation of wicked head from murderous hands by razor-sharp blade is, in fact, the best way to get executions done. Suffering is minimal and the operation is easy to pull off. The only real issue is cleanup. But prisons have an almost limitless supply of free labor at their disposal, so I don't think this will be much of a problem.
Again: If we're going to execute people, we should do it right. And "right" doesn't mean "making you, the public, feel better about it."