God is good. God is great. God is good. My God is good. Bin Laden's God is bad. His is a bad God. Saddam's God was bad, except he didn't have one. He was a barbarian. We are not barbarians. We don't chop people's heads off. We believe in freedom. So does God. I am not a barbarian. I am the democratically elected leader of a freedom-loving democracy. We are a compassionate society. We give compassionate electrocution and compassionate lethal injection. We are a great nation. I am not a dictator. He is. I am not a barbarian. He is. And he is. They all are. I possess moral authority. You see this fist? This is my moral authority. And don't you forget it.
<http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2005/pinter-lecture-e.html>
[more reason, from Charles Duff in _A Handbook On Hanging_:]
In a book with the engaging title, _Loafing Round the Globe_, written by the German Richard Katz, and translated by Gerald Griffin, the author interviewed an American sheriff and, when it came to the hanging, he asked this question: "Do you carry out the execution yourself, Sheriff?" The Sheriff replied: "Of course we do it ourselves, myself and my men. We have no hangmen to help us. If the murderer is tractable and relaxes his muscles, he is killed instantaneously. Otherwise he does a bit of jazzing in the air. He takes somewhere about five minutes to finish his capering. However, _that is his own fault_. Don't blame _us_. _We_ are not cruel. In fact, if he wants to make a little speech or sing a song before the white cap is adjusted, we give him time to do so."
<http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Hanging-Review-Books-Classics/dp/0940322676/>