What must be my shortest post ever...

I was reading the news tonight before going to bed, and came across a gem of a news article that I thought I might share. The article concerned the legal execution of Clarence Ray Allen, a 76-year old man who had to be moved from a wheelchair onto the gurney on which the state of California injected him. He was elderly, had heart problems, was legally blind, suffered from limited mobility, was deaf, and had severe (late-stage) diabetes.

My thoughts and feelings on the death penalty are a matter for another day. Well, probably not, since I have a feeling that my excursions into philosophy are a bit too dry for good blogging, even if I will indulge in them from time to time. In any case, the reason I wanted to share a part of the article was for a quick snippet of text that left me hunched over my desk and laughing so hard that I had to start gasping for breath.

The article went as follows:

"Having suffered a heart attack back in September, Allen had asked prison authorities to let him die if he went into cardiac arrest before his execution, a request prison officials said they would not honor. "At no point are we not going to value the sanctity of human life," said prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon. "We would resuscitate him," then execute him."

The irony is both delicious and tragic. Who knew such words could come out of someone's mouth without having a punchline afterwards?