Saddam and Storm Warnings

Doing laundry is actually less fun when it's raining with lightning outside. Poo.

I'm taking a break from cleaning my place to watch CNN's coverage of Saddam's pending execution. I'm torn between following the story (it is news in the making) and switching over to Cartoon Network because I'm so squicked by the whole affair (I fully accept that he's a murdering dictator, but the thought of hanging turns my stomach).

EDIT: CNN is running a "tour" of the chamber where Saddam will be hung, complete with a play-by-play of what will probably happen -- complete with model skeleton to show how his spinal cord will be severed.

"The next thing is the compression of the major vessels that supply blood to the brain [. . .] At three minutes, the brain will be dead from lack of oxygen [. . .] When the brain runs out of oxygen, the person will be declared dead, although the heart may continue to beat."

WHY?