I was reading about that guy put to death for killing the abortion doctor, and before I could stop myself, I thought, "Good. Now other people will know they won't get off if they do the same thing." And then I remembered: I'm against the death penalty.

Once Dand I went to San Diego and wandered into an exhibit called "Torture Through the Ages" at one of the museums. It was really, really interesting. When we started the exhibit, I was really fascinated (and, horrifyingly, slightly amused) at some of the exhibits. There was an old woodcutting of a guy who was found guilty of playing his music too loudly. The torture? Someone built an iron flute contraption and strapped it to his mouth. They clamped his fingers to the holes and tightented the clamps until they bled. See what I mean? Horrifying, but kind of funny. In a way.

As we walked though the exhibit, I began to feel nauseous. The tortures became more and more cruel. I won't even tell you what they were, but my stomach was seriously queasy. D actually had to leave before we got to the end. I don't know why, but I opted to stay.

A really interesting thing happened while I finished the tour. I stopped feeling nauseous and I started to feel calm and kind of sad. It was suddenly really, really obvious to me that one day the death penalty will be found to be just as barbaric as all those other forms of cruelty. "It's just wrong, damn it," I remember thinking.

This has been a public service announcement.