It is dumb if spanking is outlawed. That said, I do not believe that spanking is necessary in all cases and believe it should be toward the bottom of the list of tools for discipline.
People don't seem to get that abuse is not so much related to method, but in how consistently and for what reasons the method is used. Belting a kid for doing wrong is not abuse (provided it's on the butt and doesn't do permanent damage). Belting a kid for inconsistent reasons is. So is yelling at a kid inconsistently. What's important is that it is possible for the kid to know what right and wrong is and to be able to achieve right.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside