I wanted to cancel the L.A. Times last year, after the paper ran an utterly disgraceful story dragging Tom DeLay’s dead father into the Terri Schiavo controversy. But Mrs. P. vetoed the idea. She likes to read the paper at the breakfast table in the morning.

But lately, she hasn’t been able to do that, because the paper isn’t getting here on time.

It’s 6:39 a.m. and the L.A. Times still hasn’t arrived on our driveway. Mrs. P. likes to read the paper shortly after 6.

I may soon join the large group of readers who count themselves as former L.A. Times subscribers.

(Accepted Wisdom is a semi-regular feature of this site, highlighting contradictory viewpoints held by the elite.)

It is Accepted Wisdom that:

Any method of execution — including lethal injection — is cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore unconstitutional, because it inflicts unnecessary suffering on the prisoner.

And at the same time:

Life in prison is a better punishment than death, because prisoners suffer much more being kept alive in prison than they would from an execution.

(P.S. This installment of Accepted Wisdom was inspired by a recent actual letter to the editor of your favorite local L.A. rag.)